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Traditional phone boxes have been taken over by drug dealers, police forces have warned after the discovery of a BT “drug” phone in Nottingham.

Nottinghamshire Police have said they are aware of activity near the phone box at the Bridgeway Shopping Centre and have deployed “high visibility patrols” to safeguard the area.

Angry locals have called for “the drug phone” to be removed, but BT have defended its decision for it to remain there as it is popular with tourists.

One shop worker labelled it a “hotline for drug dealers”, saying that “when you open the shop in the morning and see a bunch of disheveled people queuing up to make a phone call they are not phoning the DSS.”

When asked why the 1970s phone box was being used more than 3,000 times a year, Neil Scoresby from BT said: “It could well be tourists.”

“We get a lot of calls made by tourists who do not have mobile phones that work on our networks,” he added.

However, Chris Brummitt from the local Bridges Community Trust disagreed, saying that she has only ever seen the phone box being used by criminals arranging drug deals.

Angry locals and community groups have called for “the drug phone” to be removed at the Bridgeway Shopping Centre

Staffordshire Police have also executed a number of drugs warrants to tackle the illegal activity occurring around a BT phone box on Portland Street, Stoke-on-Trent.